At a time when major U.S. employers are announcing large-scale layoffs, the way leaders handle downsizing has come under sharper scrutiny.
While downsizing has always been part of organizational life, employees today expect transparency, fairness and humanity from managers, even when delivering difficult news.
That shift is reshaping executive education. Business schools say preparing leaders to manage layoffs responsibly, clearly and compassionately has become a core part of leadership training.
Programs are placing greater emphasis on emotional intelligence, ethical judgment and organizational awareness, encouraging leaders to move beyond viewing layoffs as a purely operational exercise and to consider their wider human and cultural impact.
Empathy and understanding take center stage in executive education programs
Executive education programs across business schools are taking different approaches to instill empathy and emotional awareness in how leaders handle layoffs.
At ESCP Business School, which has campuses across Europe, executive education courses prepare participants to handle layoffs by strengthening two core capabilities: systems thinking and emotional intelligence.
“Throughout the courses and seminars, you are shown the complexity of our world and asked to seek a different perspective,” says participant Stefano Schiazza. The diversity of viewpoints in the classroom trains managers to “advocate for each party’s view,” he says, and understand the trade-offs that downsizing creates.
At Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, executive education programs frame layoffs as “leadership moments” rather than simple operational or legal exercises.
“One common mistake… is treating it as a one-time announcement rather than an ongoing leadership responsibility,” says Richard Berlin, associate professor of the practice of organization and management.
At Warwick Business School in the UK, the Executive Diploma in Strategic Leadership teaches participants to treat downsizing as both a human challenge and an adaptive one.
“We take a realistic but deeply human approach to downsizing,” says Dimitrios Spyridonidis, who directs the course. Leaders are encouraged to engage through “the lens of dignity”, communicating with honesty and respect, while still meeting strategic demands.
At Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands, the developmental model trains executives to handle contradictions, like balancing empathy with performance expectations.
Courses place executives in difficult, polarized situations where they must learn moral humility and reconcile competing perspectives, says professor Hannes Leroy.
Moving beyond rationale: executive education courses reframe layoffs
At ESCP, the executive education program pushes participants to understand the triggers, frustrations, and behaviors of colleagues at work through exercises such as active listening.
Schiazza took part in group assignments that helped him “channel emotions to work with people”. It is a skill that becomes critical when delivering painful news, he points out.
“A common mistake is treating downsizing as a purely operational exercise,” says Schiazza. It “is not simply about rationalizing the situation."
“Downsizing is often applied as a technical solution to what is, in reality, an adaptive challenge,” says Spyridonidis at Warwick. The school’s programs help executives slow down, question assumptions and look at culture, strategy and leadership capability before treating cost-cutting as the answer, he adds.
Mass emails and large Zoom announcements, says Berlin at Goizueta, are both “heartless and demeaning”. Research, he notes, shows that people judge layoffs on “the fairness of the process, not just the outcomes”.
Leaders often focus on procedural or distributive fairness, says Leroy at Rotterdam, but “no matter how objectively fair your solution is, if it isn’t perceived as such, you’ve failed”.
“It’s not just about being right,” he says. Effective leaders “co-construct the reality” with those affected.
Executive education prepares leaders for the organizational aftermath
At Goizueta Business School, programs such as Next Level Leadership: An Enterprise Perspective help participants practice transparent communication and learn to consider the impact on both departing and remaining employees.
Berlin says the biggest error leaders make is assuming the job is done once the message is delivered. His courses push leaders to remain visible, address survivors’ guilt, and avoid the instinct to hide behind a “work face”.
“They should remember to act as their mother told them to act when they were young – think of others,” he says.
Spyridonidis says many leaders make the mistake of treating layoffs as a one-off event. “In reality, downsizing creates ongoing uncertainty and emotional aftershocks,” he says.
Warwick teaches leaders to create space for reflection, rebuild trust and restore momentum – not rush back to “business as usual”.
Leroy says one of the most common leadership failures during layoffs is misunderstanding how employees experience fairness. Leaders may believe they have followed objective criteria, but perception often matters as much as process.
“Justice is multifaceted,” he says, noting that effective leaders must communicate a clear rationale for decisions, listen carefully to those affected and help employees make sense of what comes next. Equally important, he adds, is treating the process itself with seriousness and respect.
